Simply Sweet
by Varmint
Summary: Sekizan Takuya and Zanba Ryūjin were simple guys. They liked their sweets and enjoyed their peace. It's no wonder they got along so well. Sekizan/Zanba! Or as I have dubbed them in my sleep deprived state: ZanZan! One-shot!


Quick A/N: Sekizan deserve all the love in the world. And Zanba's scary yet precious. So here you go: A Sekizan/Zanba fic that I wrote up when I was supposed to be sleeping.

Also, I'm going to start calling this pairing ZanZan and can't no one stop me. ZanZan forever.

Also-also, Sekizan calls Sekito by a wrong name- Sekiro. It's on purpose.

Please enjoy~

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For most of his life, he had believed he had an unrivaled sweet tooth.

But now he knew better.

His sweet tooth was, in fact, rivaled.

Zanba Ryūjin was not just the tallest and most powerful member of his team. He, apparently, was also the member of the team that had an incredible addiction to anything and everything sweet.

He was staring now, he knew, but he couldn't stop himself. Not only had Zanba taken up almost a whole half hour of a work day to have_ one_ crêpe made for him, but he was also thinking about returning on the _next day_ just to get another one. He hadn't even eaten this one and he was already making plans for the next one!

It was... somewhat overwhelming.

As the tallest player Sekizan had ever set his eyes on made his way out of the best crêpe shop in Sugadaira, taking with him the monstrous mass of food that could barely be called a crêpe anymore... Sekizan couldn't help but think of _one_ thing; the most important thing he would have to remember for the following summer camp if he wanted to survive it was simple: _he'd need to get here earlier to get his food before that monster._

* * *

The next time he set eyes on Zanba outside of the field was on the last day of the summer camp.

Just as he had proposed to do, Sekizan had made sure to go to the crêpe shop early every day to make sure that he wouldn't have to wait a full half hour for the giant to have his meal made. Because of this, he had not crossed paths with him. Until now.

Seeing how today was their last day in Sugadaira, he had decided to truly go all out on his sweet treat. And even though he had certainly not asked for the same amount of ingredients within his crêpe as he knew Zanba probably solicited every day, it would take some time to make his meal. Possibly, it was because he had decided to truly indulge his sweet tooth today that he ran into Zanba once more.

This time, though, Sekizan was not the only one to recognize another player; Zanba recognized _him._

Standing a bit away from the cashier's area, Sekizan was waiting patiently (somewhat impatiently; his mouth was watering and his stomach was grumbling) for his crêpe. He was turned somewhat to the side, so he was able to see Zanba when his fellow player walked into the shop. And it was because he was able to see him that he was also able to take note of the small frown that came over those thick lips.

"Ah, Zanba-kun!" one of the women working on his crêpe greeted the giant with a tired smile, "I'll be right with you. We've got to finish this young man's order before we get to yours. It's almost as big as yours, you know!"

She flitted off to continue working on Sekizan's meal and he began to feel somewhat guilty for what he had ordered. They would have to work more than usual now, and then they would have to spend quite some time working on Zanba's own order... maybe he should have just ordered a regular combo, rather than the wild concoction that had been offered by his overactive and rather eager imagination.

When Zanba began to walk, it was almost as if his steps boomed against the tiled floor. Sekizan wasn't sure if it was his imagination or if he really was hearing the thundering steps, but soon enough the giant was only around a meter away from him and looking at him as if he had just eaten all the candy in the shop.

"Almost as big as mine?" his low voice dragged out, sounding equally disappointed and surprised.

Sekizan nodded softly, "It's my last day here."

There were no promises in his future. He didn't know if he would be able to continue playing rugby in the university level. He didn't know if he would ever be able to return to Sugadaira, even if it wasn't for rugby. So he felt it was only right that he say such a thing with so much finality. Maybe he returned some day- he didn't know. It was better to let himself know what was more probable, rather than hope for something that wasn't.

The frown slowly became something akin to a pout that looked both incredibly _out of place_ and completely _natural_ on Zanba's intimidating frame.

"It's my last day too... and I have to wait."

He couldn't help but smile softly at the comment, "I waited once for them to finish with your amalgamation of sweets. You won't die from just this once."

"I just might." the taller male mumbled so lowly that Sekizan was barely able to understand him. And as he said this, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, looking dangerously close to someone _sulking_ because of his actions.

And Sekizan had been correct. Zanba had not died by the time he was given his order and the workers were able to start up on Zanba's own.

* * *

Taira was incredibly annoying and whenever Sekizan had the chance to get away from his annoying, persistent, _irritating, absolutely childish yelling_… he took it.

So when Zanba Ryūjin happened to cross his path once again, he had not minded the other male starting up a conversation with him. And when he had been asked to accompany him to a nearby shaved ice stand, Sekizan had jumped on the chance.

Taira had tried to accompany them. But if there was one good thing about knowing too much about the buffoon, it was knowing that he _didn't _like sweets. And just by mentioning this, Zanba had immediately denied him entry to the shaved ice trip. And for the first time in his life, it seemed that Taira had thought with some semblance of intelligence and had decided to return to his friends rather than continue pestering Sekizan.

It was at this moment that Sekizan decided that Zanba was better at handling the likes of Taira than any of his teammates had ever been. Granted, Sekizan had always enforced respect in his teammates- and Taira was older than most of them. So it only made sense that they, too, tolerated this guy's stupidity rather than called him out and tried to stop him. Zanba, though, was their age. And he didn't seem to have a problem getting rid of him.

As they walked over warm sand to reach the shaved ice stand, Sekizan asked Zanba why he also happened to be on the beach today. When Zanba looked at him with a confused face that let Sekizan know he wanted to know the same thing of him, the red head answered with a simple, "Team vacation, kind of."

Part of their downtime was to further strengthen the team's dynamic outside of the field. And the beach was always a pleasant time. Keijou being at the beach was just another coincidence- one that Sekizan truly regretted.

After hearing this, Zanba informed him as to why he was at the beach. "I love strawberry shaved ice."

Sekizan nodded at this, somewhat intrigued. "Oh."

"Hmm?"

They were men of few words, weren't they?

"I've never tried it. Cherry's my favorite."

"Hmm."

They were rather close to the shaved ice stand now. The elderly man working there caught one sight of Zanba and smiled broadly, getting up from his chair so he could begin to rummage through a cooler he had at the end of his cart.

"If you let me taste your cherry, I'll let you taste my strawberry." Zanba offered as they reached the stand.

Sekizan pondered over the offer... and couldn't help but smile at the large ceramic cup the owner of the cart pulled out from his cooler.

"I've been waiting all day, Zanba-kun. What held you up?" he questioned as he began to work on Zanba's orders. Clearly, from the familiarity, he was already accustomed to Zanba's appetite and patronage. "Oh, and who's this?"

"I had to get away from practice." the giant mumbled softly before answering, with a small smile, "He wants cherry."

The man stopped working upon hearing this. Then he looked at Sekizan, _ analyzing _him; making Sekizan's face begin to heat up as he took one step back from the intense gaze; and finally scoffed. "I only have one gigantic cup, you know. He'll have to settle for the large today."

"T-that's okay." he immediately piped up, "I don't need something so big."

"Nonsense!" he chuckled softly as began to work once more, "Growing boys like you need as much food as possible."

Shaved ice was not food. But he wasn't able to bring himself to say this. So instead Sekizan just stood back, fidgeting softly, and allowed the man to finish working on their order.

With a rather large plastic cup in hand, Sekizan walked away from the shaved ice stand with the promises of the owner having a large ceramic cup ready for him the next time he came along with Zanba. He didn't have the heart to tell the man that he while he did enjoy shaved ice, he didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Zanba clearly did.

Once he had taken a few steps away from the stand, Sekizan noticed that... well... he had not paid for his own treat. He had not even thought about the fact that he would need to pay for his treat when he had accepted Zanba's offer- he had been too busy thinking about needing to get away from Taira the Troublesome as soon as possible.

Immediately feeling guilt well up in him, the red head turned around to explain what had happened to the owner so he could get his wallet where he had left it with the rest of his belongings. But his words died in his throat when he saw Zanba paying for them both, promising to come back the next weekend with him because larger sales were certainly appreciated by the older man.

Sekizan blinked in pure stupefaction as Zanba paid for his meal... and couldn't help but wonder just who this guy was.

He had thought that he had a grasp of who Ryoin's giant was. He had thought this was a guy that was rather selfish both inside and out the field. He had thought that this was a guy that didn't really care much about people that weren't himself. And he had thought that this guy was rather childish because of his actions.

But... well... these actions didn't seem selfish at all.

When Zanba walked up to him, Sekizan decided that Zanba was the kind of guy that was worth getting to know a bit more.

"I'll pay next time."

"Hmm? Sure." Zanba didn't even seem as if he had thought anything at all about paying for him. "Let me taste before you eat anything."

A small smile pulled at Sekizan's lips upon hearing this. This guy was more focused on sweets than the money he wasted on them.

That was kind of cute.

* * *

"What? He's here again?"

Sekizan had just finished getting dressed in his school uniform after a perfectly grueling practice when he heard Gion and Ebumi muttering to themselves.

Even though they still swore up and down that they hated one another, they got along about as well as a fire in a barn. And their friendship was dangerous for most everyone on the team- if each teen was a danger by themselves, together they spelled out only the worst kind of trouble.

"What's that bastard's problem? He already proved his team's league's above ours." Ebumi growled as he glared out of the club room.

Where he was glaring, Sekizan didn't know. He just knew that he was undoubtedly glaring at someone from Ryoin's team. They were the only ones that he admitted had kicked their team's ass.

"I think he's here for Sekizan again." Gion mumbled softly, then turned to look over at him. "Hey! Sekizan! Zanba's here again."

Upon hearing his name and _not _hearing a sir anywhere in what Gion had said, the red head lifted his hands and threatened the younger male with a simple pinching motion. Immediately after he saw this, Gion shouted out a quick 'Sir!'

With a sigh, he made his way towards the two troublemakers. And when he peered out through the door they had congregated around, he was able to see Zanba, with a hood drawn over his face, standing in the middle of the rugby field. He didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, but Hachioji and Iwashimizu were staring at him as if he had brought a stick of dynamite and threatened to blow up their training area.

"I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Wait, Sekizan! What's up with that guy?" Ebumi grabbed onto his wrist before he was able to shoulder past them, and Sekizan sighed softly as he turned to look back at him. "This is the third week in a row he's pulled this stunt!"

"You've been counting."

"That bastard almost killed our team when we played against him!" the blonde glowered at him now, then smirked with a feral air that would have worried anyone weaker than Sekizan. "I need to learn his routine to plan his murder accordingly."

The red head took a moment to contemplate this. Then shrugged. "Wednesday afternoons are for funnel cake at the market, I guess." after he had said this, he allowed a second for Gion and Ebumi to process his words to pass before he began to leave. "Remember to lock up."

As he walked, he could hear them try and shout for him. But he ignored them and made his way towards the giant that he had slowly formed a friendship with because of delicious sweets.

Just as Ebumi had said, this would be the third week in a row Zanba waited for him to finish up with his practice. It was somewhat troublesome that he did this, considering how Ryoin's practices were supposed to run longer than their own. But Zanba didn't seem like he wanted Sekizan to scold him over not taking rugby seriously, so he wasn't about to say anything about the like.

Besides, the less Zanba practiced, the better Jinkou's chances were to get to Hanazono.

Dressed in his practice clothes once again, Sekizan was able to tell that Zanba had left his team early to be able to meet up with him once his own practice had ended. It was a miracle he had been able to grab hold of his jacket and bag before he had- undoubtedly- ran out so he was not caught and forced to return to his proper place by an- once again, undoubtedly- exasperated team.

"You're going to be relegated to the second string at this rate." he called out as his greeting, only for Zanba to smirk proudly at him.

"Those cowards wouldn't dare." then he cleared his throat, made a point of grabbing onto Sekizan's wrist, and began to pull him in the direction of the market he was most excited to visit tonight. "I want a fresh funnel cake this time. So we can't get there too late."

The first time Sekizan had offered to go get funnel cake with the giant, Zanba had not jumped onto the opportunity to buy a new kind of sweet. Apparently, he had never tasted funnel cake before- much less the kind that was sold deep fried in the market. So he wasn't excited to try something new and not like it. But after Sekizan had promised that if he didn't like it, he would buy him some dango, Zanba had agreed to go with him.

In little to no time, funnel cake had become this guy's favorite treat. And, as Ebumi had pointed out, this was the third week he had appeared after practice to make sure that Sekizan went with him to get this treat.

Sekizan didn't mind at all. He loved funnel cake as well. And he rejoiced whenever he had an excuse to go and get some for himself.

"It's my turn to pay, right?" he asked as he was pulled behind Zanba with absolute ease.

"Mm-hmm. Can I get three this time?"

"Absolutely not. I can buy four- two for me, two for you. If you want more, you can buy it yourself."

Zanba's broad back was facing him. So Sekizan was not able to see the pout that came over the giant's face. But from the groan he let out, he knew very well that he would be sporting a wounded pout right now.

"I left my wallet with the captain. He was supposed to buy me shaved ice before practice."

Sekizan shook his head. Zanba Ryūjin was a painfully simple creature at times. Especially when it came to anything related to sweets and such delicacies. Undoubtedly, his captain had promised the shaved ice as a way to try to incite Zanba to stay for the full practice today. And keeping the wallet was, probably, a second phase of this attempt- because no person in their right mind would leave their wallet behind to go and buy some funnel cake.

Zanba Ryūjin was not a person in his right mind.

"Just remember you'll need that wallet next week when it's your turn to buy the cakes."

* * *

Sekizan was fidgeting because of how uncomfortable he was under the scrutiny of Zanba's teammates.

"Just ignore them. They'll leave eventually."

That was easy for Zanba to say. He cared so little for other people's opinions of him that being stared at by his team undoubtedly stirred nothing within him. But Sekizan wasn't as aloof or uncaring as his friend. And he was _not_ enjoying all of the attention he was under just because he had accompanied Zanba to this game under the promise of receiving ice cream of the highest quality as his reward for traveling so far.

"Just... _how_?" the smaller of the flanking twins- was his name Sekiro? Sekizan could have sworn he had heard that name before dropped from Gion's lips- was glaring at him with absolute confusion. "How can anyone in their right mind ever be friends with a monster like _Zanba_?"

The ice cream shop they were within was unlike any Sekizan had ever been in _ever_ in his life. The walls were made of slick white panels and... well... _ everything_ was white. The furniture, the floor, even the serving stations. But there were decorations in silver and gold that broke that monotony, all the while the uniforms of the workers were swathed in fine and cool colors.

He didn't even know how much money Zanba had wasted buying ice cream for the both of them. And from the smoothness of the cherry ice cream he was eating... from the way this easily was the most delicious cherry ice cream he had ever tasted in his life... Sekizan didn't _want_ to know.

"Sekizan."

Even though the icy treat was delicious, he was barely able to enjoy himself with the way he was getting stared at.

When he looked at Zanba and away from Sekiro's disbelieving scowl, he found the giant offering his own large serving of chocolate ice cream. "Trade for a few spoonfuls?"

Without a word, he handed his ice cream over to Zanba and took a hold of his own. And then he took a small spoonful of the chocolatey treat, nibbling softly at it as he heard someone else behind him gasp in amazement.

"This is more than just some friendship with Zanba! He'd rather be benched than share his food."

That was a lie, Sekizan knew. Zanba knew how to share and did so often with him.

It seemed that _all_ rugby players his age were prone to dramatics at some point or another. He had yet to meet a single team without a member as overdramatic as Gion or Taira in the past three years he had dedicated to this sport.

"These two taste good together." Zanba murmured after a few moments spent in silent contemplation. "Wanna share?"

"Something's wrong with Zanba." another player gasped dramatically, "What if he's got a brain tumor?"

Sekizan breathed out softly and tried his best to ignore the teenagers focused on him. "Sure. Let's just leave both cups in the middle and share like that."

Zanba smiled at him and nodded- and he heard the quieter one of the flanking twins finally come up and ask his loud brother to leave Zanba and his friend alone; nobody liked being stared at when they were trying to enjoy some ice cream.

Seriously... between the paranoia his team held against Zanba and the way he was received by the Ryoin team, Sekizan didn't know how this friendship could be any form of easy.

… well... he knew how it could be easy.

Sweets.

* * *

"Oh, Taki, you've got some crumbs on your cheek."

Zanba had given him a nickname.

Sekizan didn't understand why his teammates had made such a huge fuss about this fact. He had given the giant a nickname of his own. Ryu. Simple, short, and sweet. Very different from the other teenager's actual nature.

He lifted his hand to the spot where Ryo was pointing at, trying to brush off the supposed crumbs that had been left behind by the brownie he had been eating.

"Did I get it?"

The giant frowned softly, shook his head, and sighed. "I'll get it."

And so the dark haired teen stood up ever so slightly so he could lean over their table... and proceeded to lean down so his face was right beside Sekizan's cheek... and finally _licked_ at the crumbs.

"Hn... your brownie's pretty good." he commented nonchalantly, returning to his seat. "If I give you some of my milkshake, would you let me take a bite?"

Sekizan blinked at him... then narrowed his eyes, trying to figure him out.

There were many things he could strike down as simple 'Zanba behavior'. Most times, the odd things he did fell neatly into such a category and he didn't have to think too hard on his actions. But... he supposed that licking someone's face wasn't really normal- not even for someone as abnormal as Zanba.

"Ryu."

"Please?"

With a sigh, he offered up the treat Zanba was so focused on. The giant took a large bite out of it with joy clearly displayed on his features... and Sekizan noted that he really did look adorable when he got like this.

After he had finished with his bite, Zanba drank in a large gulp of his milkshake. And... well... Sekizan was suddenly hit with an impulse he had never even thought he would be capable of having in his lifetime.

Zanba's thick lips were lightly coated in the drink... and... well, if his friend had little care for personal space, Sekizan would like to see just how far he could get himself.

"Try some."

Much like Zanba had done, he stood up slightly so he could lean over the table. And then, much like Zanba had done with little hesitation, Sekizan leaned down once he had cleared some of the table and pressed his lips into the giant's own. Quickly, leaving little time for Zanba to pull away, he darted his tongue out and licked up some of the liquid that had been left on Zanba's lips.

When he pulled away, he hummed happily.

"Pretty good."

For the first time since they had started this odd friendship, Zanba was staring at him through wide eyes.

But soon, the look of pure shock became one of actual abashment.

"Hmm... so... wanna go out next week?"

"We're already going out."

Zanba blinked. Then he pouted slightly, brain working to process everything that had recently occurred.

"Since when?"

Sekizan shrugged, because, honestly, he didn't know himself. Maybe it had just happened? "Does it matter?"

After a few moments of contemplating life, the giant shrugged back. "Guess it doesn't..." then he looked away, scratching at the back of his head. "Boyfriends, right?"

"Is there another name for it?"

Zanba huffed, "I think so... but... ah, they're complicated. I like you because you keep things simple. Let's keep this simple."

~..~..~

I hope you enjoyed this little piece! Please review and tell me what y'all thought!


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